Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision
ate: November 12, 1996 Site: Charkhi Dadri Total fatalities: 349 Total survivors: 0 Operator: Saudia, Kazakhstan Airlines The Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision occurred on 12 November 1996 over the village of Charkhi Dadri, to the west of New Delhi, India. The aircraft involved were a Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747-100B en route from Delhi to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and a Kazakhstan Airlines Ilyushin Il-76 en route from Chimkent, Kazakhstan, to Delhi. The crash killed all 349 people on board both planes, making it the world's deadliest mid-air collision, the deadliest aviation accident to occur in India, and the third-deadliest aircraft accident in the history of aviation, behind only the Tenerife airport disaster and Japan Airlines Flight 123. The Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) Boeing 747-168B, registration HZ-AIH,5 was due to operate the first leg of a scheduled international Delhi–Dhahran–Jeddah passenger service as Flight 763 (SVA763) with 312 occupants on board;6 the Kazakhstan Airlines Ilyushin Il-76TD,7 registration UN-76435, was on a charter service from Chimkent to Delhi as KZA1907.6 SVA763 departed Delhi at 18:32 local time.KZA1907 was, at the same time, descending to land at Delhi. Both flights were controlled by approach controller VK Dutta. The crew of SVA763 consisted of Captain Khalid Al Shubaily, First Officer Nazir Khan, and Flight Engineer Edris. On KZA1907, Gennadi Cherepanov served as the pilot and Egor Repp served as the radio operator. KZA1907 was cleared to descend to 15,000 feet (4,600 m) when it was 74 nautical miles (137 km) from the beacon of the destination airport while SVA763, travelling on the same airway as KZA1907 but in the opposite direction, was cleared to climb to 14,000 feet (4,300 m). About eight minutes later, around 18:40, KZA1907 reported having reached its assigned altitude of 15,000 feet (4,600 m) but it was actually lower, at 14,500 feet (4,400 m), and still descending. At this time, Dutta advised the flight, "Identified traffic 12 o'clock, reciprocal Saudia Boeing 747, 10 nautical miles (19 km). Report in sight." When the controller called KZA1907 again, he received no reply. He warned of the other flight's distance, but it was too late. The two aircraft had collided, the tail of KZA1907 cut through SVA763's left wing and horizontal stabiliser. The crippled Boeing quickly lost control and went into a rapidly descending spiral motion toward the ground with fire trailing from the wing. The Boeing broke up in the air under the stresses before the wreckage hit the ground at almost 1,135 km/h (705 mph). The Ilyushin remained structurally intact as it went in a steady but rapid and uncontrolled descent until it crashed in a field. Rescuers discovered four critically injured passengers from the Ilyushin, but they all died soon afterwards. Two passengers from the Saudia flight survived the crash, still strapped to their seats, only to die of internal injuries soon after. In the end, all 312 people on board SVA763 and all 37 people on KZA1907 were killed. Captain Timothy J. Place, a pilot for the United States Air Force, was the sole eyewitness to the event. He was making an initial approach in a Lockheed C-141B Starlifter when he saw that "a large cloud lit up with an orange glow". The collision took place about 100 kilometres (60 mi) west of Delhi. The wreckage of the Saudi aircraft crashed near Dhani village, Bhiwani District, Haryana. The wreckage of the Kazakh aircraft hit the ground near Birohar village, Rohtak District, Haryana. This was the first mid-air collision between two commercial aircraft since the Dniprodzerzhynsk mid-air collision in 1979; it was succeeded by the mid-air collision between a Bashkirian Airlines Tupolev Tu-154M and a DHL Boeing 757 over Germany in July 2002 and then by the mid-air collision between a Gol Boeing 737 and an ExcelAire Embraer Legacy over Amazonia in September 2006.